African-American Buying Power

SELIG CENTER REPORT:

From its pre-recession peak in January 2007 through July 2010, the number of employed African Americans dropped by more than 1.3 million, and unemployment among African Americans soared from 8 percent to 15.6 percent. In the past decade, the number of jobs held by African Americans actually decreased by 270,000, meaning that the recession has erased more than a decade’s worth of job growth.

The report notes that the relatively low median age of African Americans makes the group particularly vulnerable to recessions, since young adults are more exposed to economic downturns compared to those who are more established in their careers or retired.

Yet the report notes that the youthful demographic profile of African Americans combined with increasing levels of educational attainment and a high rate of business formation will result in an increase in African-American buying power. The report projects that over the next five years, African-American buying power will rise from $957 billion to $1.2 trillion, an increase of 25 percent.

“One characteristic that sets the African-American consumer market apart from the Hispanic and Asian markets is that it is not concentrated in a handful of states,” Humphreys noted. “African Americans are also consumer trendsetters, which isn’t surprising considering that a sizable proportion of the population is under 18.”